DID YOUR ANCESTORS PLAY FOOTBALL?
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME & its ANCIENT HISTORY You might be surprised to learn that your ancestors have been playing a form of football since Domesday! You might also be interested to know that the game provoked controversial debate for and against the sport since the middle ages engendering the same feelings that are expressed today in the tabloid newspapers. One puritan speaker in 1531, Thomas Elliot argued that football caused "beastly fury and extreme violence"! It would seem, however, that the joy of the game triumphed over repeated attempts by those in power to suppress and ban the sport, from Edward II to Oliver Cromwell as you will see from this extract from a brief early history.
22 April 2009 More...